Young people often use capacious, sonorous words. Just put in them a completely different meaning, radically different from the original! Ask people from the 18th and 21st centuries: "What is this," fawn, "explain?" - and each has its own interpretation. This happens in any living language with ambiguous terms that are accessible and understandable at the household level, and therefore acquire new meanings.
On the fire trail
There is a concept from the Old Slavonic language from “burn” or “glow”. It is not surprising that three of his basic interpretations, relevant to this day, are directly related to fire or its consequences:
- a fire or a burning process;
- the remains of a burned item;
- ashes burned out area.
To see this in official documents or to hear in the speech of urban residents today is almost impossible. Because of what, the young generation does not even connect the pronounced definition with a fire hazard, but uses it in the most common figurative sense.
In a dangerous situation
What is it about? Handling fire requires caution, and uncontrolled flames can harm both the person himself and his property. Therefore, the meaning of the word "pale" gradually acquired allegorical options:
- danger to health, life, freedom;
- failure of any business;
- probability of detection, exposure;
- failure;
- denunciation.
In this case, the people mixed together the “risk” and the image of a brightly illuminating neighborhood of the light that will reveal any secret. When a person does something illegal or forbidden, he does not want to “burn off”. However, there is a small semantic branch in the direction of consumer products:
- “Singed”, fake or expired;
- smoking mixtures to be set on fire.
Guard the order
A brightly burning torch or lantern in the hands of the city police officer, which patrols the streets at night, in combination with the consonant word "stare" gave rise to another definition. It is associated with close examination or excessive attention, dismissively characterizes:
- security, the process of duty;
- a long look at the interlocutor.
In everyday conversation
If the interlocutor suddenly says “fawn,” is this in which of the listed meanings to understand? The word can be used in a playful way, with a smile. But for most contemporaries, the term is colored by a negative meaning, invariably associated with danger in one form or another. It is often pronounced to indicate a risk of being caught or a bad product. Follow the context and everything will become clear.